Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Digital Commons Network™

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

University of Central Florida

Discipline
Keyword
Publication Year
Publication
Publication Type
File Type

Articles 1651 - 1680 of 10050

Full-Text Articles in Entire DC Network

A Critical Intersectional Analysis Of Black Doulas' Experiences In Maternal Healthcare, Emely Matos Jan 2022

A Critical Intersectional Analysis Of Black Doulas' Experiences In Maternal Healthcare, Emely Matos

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), maternal death ratios are severely racially stratified as African American women face the most significant risk. Currently, Black women are four times more likely to die from pregnancy-related death in the United States than white women. Race disparities in maternal health outcomes may be exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic as preliminary research suggests that the pandemic's disproportionate impact on Black communities and existing concerns about Black women's medical treatment may indicate an increase in mortality within the next few years. Racial health disparities reflect the nation's flawed maternal healthcare …


Spectrally-Based Color Calibration Of Microscopes For Birefringence Analysis, Olivia Feild Jan 2022

Spectrally-Based Color Calibration Of Microscopes For Birefringence Analysis, Olivia Feild

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

The analysis of colors is omnipresent in forensics. While their use for macroscopic evidence such as soil sees a large amount of research, their correct handling is more challenging when observed under a microscope. Either for hairs or textile fibers, their color (from melanin, dyes or for birefringence analysis) is crucial in being able to compare between fibers found at a crime scene. Typically, color is quantified using a color space, such as RGB, XYZ, L*a*b*, and L*u*v*. Unfortunately, color is very subjective and often difficult to quantify accurately, even using digital detectors. Finding true matches of colors has been …


Hitting A Little Too Close To Home: Reflexivity, Liminality, And Identification In Horror Across Film, Theatre, And Games, Alyssa Barrack Jan 2022

Hitting A Little Too Close To Home: Reflexivity, Liminality, And Identification In Horror Across Film, Theatre, And Games, Alyssa Barrack

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Reflexive art makes explicit the inherent connection between artistic process, intertextual context, and an audience to create an intentional dialogue with its audience by tapping into the duality inherent in spectatorship - awareness of both the creation process and the final product, and participation in one or both through viewership. In this study I analyze several pieces across three mediums––film (Funny Games (2007), The Poughkeepsie Tapes (2007)), theatre (Ubu Roi (1896)), and video games (The Stanley Parable (2013), Bioshock (2007))––and consider audience reviews to determine how audiences are affected by reflexivity in each. Through the lens of the horror genre …


Seeing The Unseen: Interactive Narrative As A Tool For Understanding Invisible Disabilities, Jesslyn Parrish Jan 2022

Seeing The Unseen: Interactive Narrative As A Tool For Understanding Invisible Disabilities, Jesslyn Parrish

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Understanding invisible disabilities has become a more consistent conversation in recent years. While this conversation has included developing better medical treatment and legislative progress for accessibility requirements, there remains progress to be made in comprehending how these invisible disabilities impact a person's daily life. This dissertation research focuses on how informal learning tools such as interactive narratives could be developed to provide insight into the ways an invisible disability influences a person's day that otherwise goes unnoticed by the mainstream population. To provide this insight, an advanced prototype of an interactive story titled Under the Rock was developed and based …


Extensions Of The General Solution To The Inverse Problem Of The Calculus Of Variations, And Variational, Perturbative And Reversible Systems Approaches To Regular And Embedded Solitary Waves, Ranses Alfonso Rodriguez Jan 2022

Extensions Of The General Solution To The Inverse Problem Of The Calculus Of Variations, And Variational, Perturbative And Reversible Systems Approaches To Regular And Embedded Solitary Waves, Ranses Alfonso Rodriguez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

In the first part of this Dissertation, hierarchies of Lagrangians of degree two, three or four, each only partly determined by the choice of leading terms and with some coefficients remaining free, are derived. These have significantly greater freedom than the most general differential geometric criterion currently known for the existence of a Lagrangian and variational formulation since our existence conditions are for individual coefficients in the Lagrangian. For different choices of leading coefficients, the resulting variational equations could also represent traveling waves of various nonlinear evolution equations. Families of regular and embedded solitary waves are derived for some of …


Endless Curiosity, Ryan Price Jan 2022

Endless Curiosity, Ryan Price

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Growing up in an image-based society with television, computer screens, and a massive swell of visual media leaves me overloaded with imagery and information. I seek to find beauty in the strangeness of interconnected nostalgia of family memories, loss and grief, escapism, and video games. I process and excavate my personal history by romanticizing memories, relationships, and the passage of time. I do this with constructed visual worlds created through the physical processes of drawing, bookbinding, ceramics, printmaking, and painting. I use references and influences from 20th-century artists Paul Klee, James Ensor, and Jim Nutt to connect and interweave video …


Physics And Applications Of Space-Time Wave Packets, Murat Yessenov Jan 2022

Physics And Applications Of Space-Time Wave Packets, Murat Yessenov

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Space-time wave packets (STWP) constitute a broad class of pulsed optical fields that are rigidly transported in linear media without diffraction or dispersion, and are therefore propagation-invariant in absence of optical nonlinearities or waveguiding structures. Such wave packets exhibit unique characteristics, such as controllable group velocities in free space and exotic refractive phenomena. At the root of these behaviors is a fundamental feature underpinning STWP: their spectra are not separable with respect to the spatial and temporal degrees of freedom. Indeed, the spatio-temporal structure is endowed with angular dispersion, in which each spatial frequency is associated with a single prescribed …


Investigating The Effects Of Negative Influence Gradients And Emotion Contagion On The Information Processing Capacity Of Social Media Users: Information Diffusion Modeling Approach, Nisha Baral Jan 2022

Investigating The Effects Of Negative Influence Gradients And Emotion Contagion On The Information Processing Capacity Of Social Media Users: Information Diffusion Modeling Approach, Nisha Baral

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

With the growing use of Online social media (OSM), users are observing a substantial amount of information in their social feeds. Moreover, people often use multiple OSM platforms because of each platform's unique features. Because of the huge volume of information present in social feeds, it restricts a user's ability to process the relevant information since the most important information may be overwhelmed by unimportant information. For information to diffuse in OSM, the receiver's attention is the most important condition. Cognition plays an important role in determining a user's attention/responsiveness. If OSM users receive the information above their cognition limits …


The Effects Of Traumatic Experiences On Identity Among People With Expressive Language Disorders, Bailey Wagaman Jan 2022

The Effects Of Traumatic Experiences On Identity Among People With Expressive Language Disorders, Bailey Wagaman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

This study aims to address the lack of standardized measurement of the effects of trauma on identity. Waterman's (2020) theory, taxonomy, and Trauma Impacts on Identity Functioning Scales were used to evaluate the effects of traumatic brain injury on identity. TBI survivors compared their sense of identity from pre-to-post TBI. Data collection consisted of 2 interviews and participants were compensated with $60 gift cards. Participants (N = 15, Mage = 52.67) were recruited from several language disorder groups. In terms of identity functioning post-brain injury, participant reports of their experiences varied quite a bit from identity loss to a strengthened …


Social Support And Empowerment Among Caregivers Of Children With Asthma, Lauren Lebo Jan 2022

Social Support And Empowerment Among Caregivers Of Children With Asthma, Lauren Lebo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

The purpose of this study was to better understand the concept of empowerment among caregivers of children with asthma. This study investigated what is already known about empowerment among caregivers and the instruments available to measure caregiver empowerment. This study then examined the relationship between social support and caregiver empowerment as well as income level and empowerment amongst caregivers of children with asthma. This study used the Federal Poverty Guidelines, Family Empowerment Scale and MOS Social Support Survey to measure these relationships. It was found that there was no relationship between income level and empowerment, but there was a significant …


A Novel Virtual Reality Executive Function Assessment, Christine Parsons Jan 2022

A Novel Virtual Reality Executive Function Assessment, Christine Parsons

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Executive Function (EF) is related to cognitive ability and includes such constructs as working memory, inhibition control, and cognitive flexibility (i.e., set shifting). The individual constructs work together to allow a person to set and achieve goals. Student success and achievement have been linked to satisfactory EF skills. Research indicates the testing methods for executive function are diverse and may lack sensitivity. Currently, the NIH Toolbox-Cognitive Battery (NTCB) assessment is a nationally normed standardized battery used to measure individual constructs of executive function in isolation. However, this assessment does not allow measurement of EF as the individual constructs interoperate. Virtual …


Emergency Remote Teaching (Ert) Forced By The Covid-19 Pandemic: Efl Teachers' Practices And Perspectives Two Years Later, Eman Barri Jan 2022

Emergency Remote Teaching (Ert) Forced By The Covid-19 Pandemic: Efl Teachers' Practices And Perspectives Two Years Later, Eman Barri

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

When the Covid-19 pandemic first hit the world in March 2020, all aspects of life were drastically disrupted, and the education sector underwent radical changes. An almost overnight shift from traditional classrooms to delivering instruction online became an enforced necessity rather than an option to continue education during the pandemic, which required teachers around the world to adapt to the new reality on very short notice. Because little research has been undertaken to understand language teaching practices globally during the pandemic from the teachers' perspectives, shedding light on how English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers responded to the emergency …


Post-Crisis Organizational Learning Thresholds, Pitfalls And The Risk Of Repeated Crises: Clarifying The Discourse Of Renewal Theory, Rodrigo Soares Jan 2022

Post-Crisis Organizational Learning Thresholds, Pitfalls And The Risk Of Repeated Crises: Clarifying The Discourse Of Renewal Theory, Rodrigo Soares

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Through a case study analysis of repeated crises that impacted the same organization in Brazil, this dissertation aimed to solve an applied problem: the potential for unresolved or amplified risk for organizations and their stakeholders facing repeated crises due to incomplete post-crisis learning. This research expands and clarifies the understanding of organizational learning, particularly in the Discourse of Renewal theory, by exploring the potential for organizations to ascertain vital lessons for a crisis but fail to communicatively constitute them as central features of a renewed organization. The study investigated an organization's failure to avoid repeating a crisis within a relatively …


Invisible Strings: The Impacts Of Race On Attitudes Toward Abortion Among The Highly Religious, Marin Deevers Jan 2022

Invisible Strings: The Impacts Of Race On Attitudes Toward Abortion Among The Highly Religious, Marin Deevers

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Following an influential Supreme Court decision regarding the legality of abortion, America seems to be split now more than ever on their attitudes towards this care. At the same time, researchers have shown that America has been shifting towards a more diverse and liberal population on social issues. With the increased presence of diverse groups, cross-pressures have grown in individuals belonging to multiple social groups that may hold conflicting opinions about political issues such as abortion care. Race and frequent religiosity have been salient identities in predicting attitudes towards abortion. This research set out to test whether these identities can …


The Sociology Of God: The Case Of Homeless Believers, John L'Hommedieu Jan 2022

The Sociology Of God: The Case Of Homeless Believers, John L'Hommedieu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

This research began as personal curiosity about the religious beliefs of persons experiencing homelessness, and in particular their beliefs about God. What do they believe about God, and how are their beliefs socially constructed? Social research has generally limited its focus to assessing religion as an asset in ameliorating homelessness as a social problem with little attention to the religious behaviors and thought processes of persons experiencing homelessness themselves. I conducted a classic grounded theory (CGT) analysis based on 14 in-depth interviews with homeless believers (HB's) and three interviews with pastors-service-providers (PSP's) for comparative analysis. The findings include two major …


Heat Transfer Characterization Of Carbon Dioxide In Micro Impinging Jet(S) Near Critical Conditions, Stephen Adeoye Jan 2022

Heat Transfer Characterization Of Carbon Dioxide In Micro Impinging Jet(S) Near Critical Conditions, Stephen Adeoye

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

The continuous growth and demand of increased operating performances of electronics has brought about an increase in the chip power density posing threat to the thermal management of these devices. Although numerous thermal solutions ranging from passive to active cooling together with a variety of working fluids have been adopted, however, the question whether these available cooling methods could meet up with the ever-growing need for increased operating performances is a concerning one. Jet impingement cooling has been effectively used in many industrial applications due to its high heat transfer capability. The limited study at the micro scale suggests that …


Attenuation Of Excess Tnfα Release In Crohn's Disease By Silencing Of Irhoms 1/2 And The Restoration Of Tgfβ-Mediated Immunosuppression Through The Modulation Of Tace Trafficking, Taylor Louis Jan 2022

Attenuation Of Excess Tnfα Release In Crohn's Disease By Silencing Of Irhoms 1/2 And The Restoration Of Tgfβ-Mediated Immunosuppression Through The Modulation Of Tace Trafficking, Taylor Louis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Although treatment of Crohn's disease (CD) with TNFa monoclonal antibodies is beneficial, many patients stop responding over time and become at risk of acquiring infections. This study investigated an alternative approach to attenuate the release of excess TNFα by silencing iRHOMs 1/2 with the intention of restoring TGFβ-mediated Immunosuppression through Mitigation of TNFα converting enzyme (TACE) Trafficking. TACE, a transmembrane metalloprotease involved in signaling of receptors/cytokines/growth factors/adhesion proteins, is upregulated in CD, resulting in a marked increase of membranous TNFα cleavage and inflammation. Initially, we measured TGFβRII shedding in plasma from CD patients and healthy controls (N=40 per group). We …


An Anthropological Study Of The Effects Of The Covid-19 Pandemic On Drug Treatment In The United States, Abigail Shepherd Jan 2022

An Anthropological Study Of The Effects Of The Covid-19 Pandemic On Drug Treatment In The United States, Abigail Shepherd

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

This thesis examined the extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the structure of drug treatment in the United States and how the effects have influenced the experience of undergoing and providing services in a variety of contexts. The COVID-19 pandemic emerged amid an opioid epidemic, which has taken the lives of over 564,000 Americans since the late 1990s. With overdose deaths increasing since the onset of the pandemic and government agencies responding with policy changes, recent research in the social sciences and on drug treatment services has necessarily shifted its focus to the effects of the pandemic on …


Team Virtuality And Psychological Safety: An Experiment, Moses Rivera Jan 2022

Team Virtuality And Psychological Safety: An Experiment, Moses Rivera

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Working from home as part of a virtual team has become the status quo for many workers due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, modern organizations require teams skilled at complex problem-solving, innovation, and adaptability. Psychological safety enhances these skills, by means of fostering an environment in which team members can fully engage and learn. Given the theoretical possibility that team virtuality may dampen the development of team psychological safety, the present study empirically investigated relationship between these two constructs. A hypothesized model was tested, in which team virtuality has an indirect effect on team psychological safety, via intrateam perceived other-to-self …


Polymer Derived Ceramic For Lithium-Ion Storage, And Electrospun Polyelectrolyte Fiber For Heavy Metal Ions Removal, Zeyang Zhang Jan 2022

Polymer Derived Ceramic For Lithium-Ion Storage, And Electrospun Polyelectrolyte Fiber For Heavy Metal Ions Removal, Zeyang Zhang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

This dissertation includes two major projects. The first project investigated the great potential of polymer-derived ceramics (PDCs) as lithium-ion battery anode materials with good cycling stability and large capacity. SiCNO ceramic nanoparticles were produced by pyrolysis of polysilazane nanoparticles synthesized via an oil-in-oil emulsion crosslinking. The SiCNO nanoparticles had an average particle size of around 9 nm and contained graphitic carbon, Si3N4, and SiO2 domains. The electrochemical behavior of SiCNO nanoparticles anode was investigated to evaluate the Li-ion storage performance and understand its mechanism of Li-ion storage. The lithiation of SiCNO was observed at ~0.385 V versus Li/Li+. The anode …


Inclusive Writing, Kairos, And Technical Communication: Defining Our Modern Age., Ramara Reisch Jan 2022

Inclusive Writing, Kairos, And Technical Communication: Defining Our Modern Age., Ramara Reisch

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

A reoccurring topic in the TPC (technical/ professional communication) field has been the exclusion and marginalization of some audience members, especially those who are African American/ Black, Asian, Hispanic or Latino, LGBTQIA, and those with physical or mental disabilities. Throughout this thesis, I make connections between what has happened in the past and how it has contributed to the kairos of the TPC social justice turn. I explore the term "kairos" which is the timing and space in which something occurs and, depending on someone's delivery, they can create a persuasive and opportunist moment. The subject of including audiences into …


Covid, Inequalities And Health: A Sociological Analysis About The Resilience Found In Unique Student Life Experiences, Sarah Da Silva Jan 2022

Covid, Inequalities And Health: A Sociological Analysis About The Resilience Found In Unique Student Life Experiences, Sarah Da Silva

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

This study demonstrates how adversity during the covid pandemic has impacted the lives of diverse college students. Specifically, this study analyzes students' perspectives on how they respond through resilience to daily academic, financial, and social stressors impacting their health during the pandemic. For this study, the research questions are: 1) what themes and forms of coping emerge among marginalized racially, ethnically diverse U.S. college students about their mental health and daily life experiences exacerbated by the covid pandemic? 2) And to what do experiences with stressors in combination with the covid pandemic reveal about the mental health of marginalized groups …


Un-Portalable! An Animated Exploration In Boundaries And Relational Design, Ira Klages Jan 2022

Un-Portalable! An Animated Exploration In Boundaries And Relational Design, Ira Klages

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Un-Portalable! is an animated multimedia short film about two friends who become fused together after using a faulty teleporter. They attempt to conceal their deformity while simultaneously navigating a social situation with one of their friends. The main focus in the film is the concept that boundaries tend to become clearer as they begin to break. This conceptual focus merges into the visual theory of the film in which highly expressive character design and hybrid media utilization are driven by relational and narrative design choices. This film serves as a condensed pilot and proof of concept for a larger prospective …


The Universal Story: Coming-Of-Age In Contemporary Animation, Christina Christie Jan 2022

The Universal Story: Coming-Of-Age In Contemporary Animation, Christina Christie

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Cycles is a 3D animated short film about a father who struggles to keep up with his daughter as she races through life. Whereas most coming-of-age films focus solely on the journey of the adolescent, Cycles subverts the expectations of the genre by exploring the impact growing up has on both the parent and child in tandem. As a film, Cycles relies on the careful and deliberate use of tropes, informed character and environment design, and established cinematic devices to support the story's theme of accepting change. Though my personal experience inspired this film, it evolved into a contemporary and …


Evaluating Novel Combinations Of Polyamine Targeting Therapeutics In Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma, Sai Preethi Nakkina Jan 2022

Evaluating Novel Combinations Of Polyamine Targeting Therapeutics In Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma, Sai Preethi Nakkina

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Pancreatic cancer overall has a poor five-year survival rate of less than 8%. Well-tolerated regimens and immune cell infiltration to promote anti-cancer treatments are major challenges. Studies described herein leveraged testing different combinations/doses of polyamine targeting inhibitors to further understand the impact of targeting key polyamine pathway mediators in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). Placebo controls were compared to groups treated with difluoromethylornithine (DFMO, a polyamine biosynthesis inhibitor of ornithine decarboxylase), different polyamine transport inhibitors, and compound combinations in strategies for polyamine blockage therapy (PBT). Informatic analyses showed that the dysregulation of key polyamine pathway mediators are associated with poor patient …


Circulating Suburbia: Locating A Transnational Suburban Imagination In Post-War Periodicals, 1945-1970, Tyler Dick Jan 2022

Circulating Suburbia: Locating A Transnational Suburban Imagination In Post-War Periodicals, 1945-1970, Tyler Dick

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

In this thesis I argue that a suburban cultural imagination developed transnationally during the post-war period (roughly 1945-1970) rather than as a cultural phenomenon largely associated with the 1950s United States. I situate the suburbs—in both their physical and cultural constructions—as my primary focus and discuss the suburb's influence on hegemonic culture by performing an in-depth comparison of the U.S. with another country with a long history of suburbanization—Australia. Given that the suburbs structure several social, cultural, economic, political, and historical vectors—which all in turn inform issues of gender, race, class, sexuality, and nationality—I focus on how the suburbs inform …


Creating A Reverberating Beat: Digital Curation Of The Women Writers Of The Beat Generation, Elena Maria Rogalle Jan 2022

Creating A Reverberating Beat: Digital Curation Of The Women Writers Of The Beat Generation, Elena Maria Rogalle

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

The focus of my study is the creation of a special topics American literature or Women's Studies course about the women writers of the Beat Generation; this course provides students with a variety of explorations of women's writing during and after Post World War II America. This period saw many changes in terms of women's roles as they challenged the mid-20th century societal constructs. My research examines the women Beat writers by centering on their distinct women's discourse and how their voices challenged the patriarchally-driven canon of Beat Generation writers. To accomplish this task, my research focuses on expanding the …


Digital Humanities & Community College Libraries: Opportunities And Challenges, Mia Tignor Jan 2022

Digital Humanities & Community College Libraries: Opportunities And Challenges, Mia Tignor

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Digital humanities study applies technological tools to the study of humanities topics and allows for the exploration of new questions in ways that were not possible using traditional research models. Librarians have been active participants of the field since its inception, as they explore new ways to critically engage with information organization and information literacy instruction, and most research that focuses on the intersection between these fields takes place within research universities . In contrast, there is very little research examining digital humanities work at the community college, which primarily offers associate degrees, vocational certificates, and other workforce based training. …


History Of The Cuban Diaspora And Responses To July 2021 Protests In Cuba: An In-Depth Examination Of Emerging Social Movement, Carolina Alonso Domech Jan 2022

History Of The Cuban Diaspora And Responses To July 2021 Protests In Cuba: An In-Depth Examination Of Emerging Social Movement, Carolina Alonso Domech

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

In July of 2021, thousands of people took to the streets in different cities of the United States in demand of military intervention by the U.S. government and freedom for the people of Cuba. This study aims to explore the motivation behind the Florida-based Cuban American popula-tion to engage in acts of civic protest. The study explains the unique characteristics of the Cuban American Immigrant group in the United States influencing social movement participation. The study provides an analysis of the background of the S.O.S. Cuba movement. To accomplish this, in-depth focus groups were conducted to explore the opinions, reactions, …


Reexamining Cytolethal Distending Toxin's Host Cell Entry And Trafficking: The First Steps Down A Long Road, George Huhn Jan 2022

Reexamining Cytolethal Distending Toxin's Host Cell Entry And Trafficking: The First Steps Down A Long Road, George Huhn

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Cytolethal distending toxin (CDT) is a virulence factor produced by many Gram-negative bacteria, including Haemophilus ducreyi, the causative agent of genital chancroid. CDT is a heterotrimeric toxin consisting of a cell-binding domain (CdtA + CdtC) and a catalytic domain (CdtB) that has DNase activity. After binding to the host plasma membrane, CDT undergoes endocytosis and travels through the endosomes en route to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Only CdtB and CdtC arrive in the Golgi before moving to the ER. Only then does CdtB move into the nucleus, causing DNA damage that induces cell-cycle arrest and apoptosis. The previous CDT trafficking …